


Fascination and Ruin

by NicePumpkinSpice



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Writing for a Prompt Melts My Brain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2015-12-04
Packaged: 2018-05-04 22:25:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5350658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicePumpkinSpice/pseuds/NicePumpkinSpice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Quick drabble to fill a prompt for a Fellowship of the Cullenite Writer's November speed writing challenge.  This would occur around chapter 81 of my longer fiction "Finding Joy."  http://archiveofourown.org/works/3780715/chapters/8407624</p><p>Prompt was to include a line from "The Princess Bride" in your story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fascination and Ruin

Nehn bit the inside of her mouth to keep from speaking. If she started to talk, she would never stop complaining. The excursion to Dirthamen’s Lost Temple had been a complete clusterfuck from the onset. She’d broken one of her favorite staves when she’d tripped and fallen over a vine near the ruin’s entrance. Now she was waist deep in fetid water and struggling to see in the poorly lit passageways of the temple. _I hate being wet. I hate being cold. I hate this place. It smells like dirty socks and rotten cheese._

“Fascinating,” Solas commented for the umpteenth time as they encountered yet another rune depicting the despair and desperation of Dirthamen’s priests when the Creators fell silent.

“You keep using that word,” Nehn snarked. “I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

Solas turned toward Nehn and gave her a look that fell somewhere between amused and disdainful. The light from his torch made his face look feral as he retorted, “And she finally speaks. Pity it wasn’t to say something meaningful, but I suppose that would be too much to expect.”

Nehn’s eyes narrowed at his put down. _I can’t believe I ever slept with you. What in the Void was I thinking?_

“Yes, well we can’t all be obsessed with the past,” she threw back. “Since you find history so intriguing, you can slog this around,” she hissed while tossing a bag containing the enchanted remains of the temple’s last high priest. “With your nose so high up in the air, I doubt you’ll even be able to smell the decay.”

“And to think I was concerned that things would be awkward between the two of you,” Zevran interjected as he took point. “Instead I’m entertained with this riveting banter. Should I find you sneaking off to have angry sex I will be most disappointed. I’d assumed that if the Inquisitor chose to step out on her Commander that it would be with me. I am, after all, quite irresistible.”

Nehn snorted at the thought of having sex in the decrepit temple - especially with Solas - then felt guilty when she glimpsed a pained expression on his face before he assumed his typical insouciant mask. Solas and she hadn’t spoken about her moving on with Cullen. In fact, they hardly spoke at all any more when they had once spent hours absorbed in conversation both in and out of the Fade.

“Solas, I ...” Nehn began to apologize when he held up a hand.

“We should concentrate on the task before us,” Solas stated authoritatively, and Nehn nodded her agreement. This was hardly the time or place to discuss what had happened between them although it did seem strangely appropriate. The temple like their relationship had once been complex and beautiful but lies and silence had brought about its ruin. _A perfect metaphor..._ Nehn thought sadly as she conjured a glimmering ball of mage light and pressed onward.


End file.
